Printers receive and print data files (print jobs) that are submitted by host computer systems. Whenever a print job includes an error, a printer typically receives and prints the data from the beginning of the print job up to the point of the error. This behavior is common for a number of reasons (e.g., it is easy to implement, it may not be possible or practical to withhold printing a job until the complete job is received and processed, and a typical print policy is to print as much of a job as possible, even if the job contains an error).
In the case of a high speed production printer it may be desirable to avoid printing any part of a job when the job is known to include errors. By not printing a job that includes an error, waste production is avoided, as well as time required to implement a recovery process of printing a portion of the job. One particular type of error that may occur is a short print job, otherwise referred to as a “short job”. A short job occurs when the amount of data that the printer receives for a print job is less than the complete job.
A short job may occur due to a network error, or premature termination of the transfer by the host system. The early termination of a file transfer due to a transmission problem is typically not detectable by the printer. However, in some systems the printer is capable of detecting the correct size of a complete print job in advance.
Accordingly, a mechanism to discontinue processing a short job at a printer is desired.